scholarly journals Making Sense of ‘Global’ Social Justice: Claims for Justice in a Global Labour Market

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 80-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nik Winchester ◽  
Nicholas Bailey

Inequality and social justice are key issues in a context marked by endemic interconnectedness. However, traditional accounts of social justice deploy explanatory frameworks that are state bound. By contrast, it is argued that globalisation has led to the emergence and entrenchment of forms and structures of power and influence that operate beyond and across national boundaries and that are capable of perpetrating inequity and injustice. In response theorists have begun to argue for the need to recognise the demands of social justice in non-state territorial contexts. Whilst extant theories offer a high level of abstraction, we ground these theories by examining the global labour market for seafarers as an example of a multinational workforce operating in a global context. The paper offers a detailed examination of these workers raising a global social justice claim within an international forum. In so doing we argue that this case leads to a significant problematisation of global social justice as an empirical phenomenon and conceptual object; one that escapes extant theoretical resources. In conclusion we highlight conceptual and pragmatic issues associated with theorising and realising global social justice, and the role that sociology has to play in this endeavour.

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-187
Author(s):  
Christine Bicknell

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) declares a single standard of proof (‘SoP’): proof beyond reasonable doubt (‘brd’). Yet the accuracy of this claim and the threshold’s appropriateness have both been challenged. This article uniquely considers and clarifies the Court’s interpretation and application of its SoP. Demonstrating SoP is capable of both broad and narrow interpretations, it shows the Court interprets SoP only narrowly. This understanding confirms brd as the applicable standard, whose use is then considered through detailed examination of the case law. The analysis shows that although the Court’s conception and approach to brd necessarily accommodate some doubt, violations are found with a consistently high level of certainty. There is however, a striking inconsistency in references made to the Rules of Court. Moreover, the Rules do not fully capture the Court’s approach. Addressing this, as the article proposes, would strengthen both the consistency and legitimacy of relevant decisions.


Europa XXI ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 37-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth McAreavy

Seasonal workers are increasingly being used globally to provide a short-term workforce, filling positions in the labour market that are often difficult, dirty and shunned by native born workers. Seasonal schemes are promoted in typically economic terms, offering a triple win where the host society gains from flexible labour; the sending country benefits from remittances and skill transfers; and migrants themselves gain from access to the labour market. However, they have been found to support the uneven economic participation of workers in global production processes and they typically marginalise workers socially. Drawing from examples elsewhere and using Nancy Fraser’s three-dimensional perspective of social justice (2005), this article examines the prospect for developing socially just seasonal work programmes. It is logical that most societies seek to promote seasonal worker schemes that allow workers to be treated according to the rules of justice. And yet, research has shown the exploitation of many different types of migrant workers. Following Fraser, the article asks to what extent recognition, redistribution and representation can be achieved through seasonal worker schemes? It identifies key issues for consideration if social justice is to be upheld.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 326-337
Author(s):  
Steve Hedley

In this article, Professor Steve Hedley offers a Common Law response to he recently published arguments of Professor Nils Jansen on the German law of unjustified enrichment (as to which, see Jansen, “Farewell to Unjustified Enrichment” (2016) 20 EdinLR 123). The author takes the view that Jansen's paper provided a welcome opportunity to reconsider not merely what unjust enrichment can logically be, but what it is for. He argues that unjust enrichment talk contributes little of value, and that the supposedly logical process of stating it at a high level of abstraction, and then seeking to deduce the law from that abstraction, merely distracts lawyers from the equities of the cases they consider.


Author(s):  
Martin L. Weitzman

In theory, and under some very strong assumptions, there exists a tight quantitative relationship among the following four fundamental economic concepts: (1) ‘wealth’; (2) ‘income’; (3) ‘sustainability’; (4) ‘accounting’. These four basic concepts are placed in quotation marks here because a necessary first step will be to carefully and rigorously define what exactly is meant by each. This chapter reviews what is known about this important fourfold quantitative relationship in an ultra-simplified setting. It identifies some basic applications of this simplified economic theory of wealth and income (and sustainability and accounting). While the contents of this chapter are expressed at a very high level of abstraction and require many restrictive assumptions, the fundamental fourfold relationship it sharply highlights should be useful for conceptualizing, at least in principle, what is ‘wealth’ and what is its theoretical relationship to ‘income’, ‘sustainability’, and ‘accounting’.


Author(s):  
J. E. Penner

This chapter discusses property law. It considers the idea that property had a “nominalist” ontology, and it was in danger of “disintegration” as a working legal category for that very reason. Nominalism about property has had a significant impact in U.S. case law. The concern here, however, is whether it is a helpful stance to take as a theorist of property. The chapter argues that it is not. There are indeed “high” level abstractions about property which one cannot plausibly do without if one is to understand property rights and property law doctrine. Moreover, the “bundle of rights” (BOR) challenge does not assist one in making sense of these abstractions. The chapter then looks at the conceptual failure of BOR and the New Private Law as it relates to property. BOR is generally regarded as being underpinned by what might be called the Hohfeld-Honoré synthesis. The synthesis rests upon a fairly serious mistake, which is that while the Hohfeldian examination of jural norms is analytic if it is anything, Honor’s elaboration of the incidents making up ownership is anything but—it is functional. This means that Honoré describes the situation of the owner not principally in terms of his Hohfeldian powers, duties, and rights vis-à-vis others, but in terms of the social or economic advantages that an owner has by virtue of his position, and the terms and limitations of those advantages.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila Riddell ◽  
Elisabet Weedon

Since the re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, successive administrations have reaffirmed their commitment to social justice. However, despite high-level equality policies, social-class inequality is a major feature of Scottish society, affecting all social policy domains, including education. In this article, we provide a brief overview of the development of support for children with learning difficulties and disabilities within the context of Scottish comprehensive schooling. We then consider the way in which ideas of social justice are reflected in education for learners with additional support needs, whose numbers have expanded over recent years and who are particularly likely to live in the most deprived parts of Scotland. Using family case studies, we explore the experiences of families from different social backgrounds, whose children have been identified as having additional support needs. The data suggest that children living in deprived areas experience cumulative disadvantage, attracting stigmatising labels without the benefit of extra resources necessary to improve educational outcomes. By way of contrast, those from more advantaged areas are generally more successful in avoiding stigmatising labels while ensuring that facilitating resources are in place. Findings are discussed within Fraser’s three-dimensional framework of social justice, encompassing distribution, recognition and representation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Sousanna Maria Nikolaou

The modern democratic society must ensure the realization of the ideal democracy through the education of the youth with knowledge-skills and critical thinking and finally through the education of democratic citizens. A democratic citizen is defined as a citizen who is personally responsible, participatory, and oriented towards social justice and has the will to work for the realization of democratic ideals. The key issues the study focuses on are: What school practices contribute to the preparation of democratic citizens? What is meant by the open / positive climate of the classroom and how is it related to the strengthening of citizenship according to research data? The main purpose of the study is to reflect and raise awareness about the democratic conditions we must ensure in schools, to avoid the erosion of institutions and the rejection or loose commitment to the rules of democracy.


2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr Jonathon Sargeant

The perspectives of young children are of considerable interest to the community yet remains largely misunderstood. This paper posits that children demonstrate an optimistic view of the world and the future that is also encased in a deeper understanding of key global, local, and social issues than previously thought. This study challenges the notion that children are either adversely affected by knowledge or ignorant of global issues outside their control. The effects of external media and the reputed social decay of society and the pessimistic worldview reportedly held by young children are questioned. In acknowledging the children’s understanding of key issues, this research identifies that children engage in an internal metacognitive processing of information that allows them to maintain their optimistic view of the world. This paper introduces the concept of an Importance Filter, an internal information processing mechanism that assists children in making sense of their world.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devin R. Berg ◽  
Tina Lee

Traditional engineering education often falls short when it comes to the inclusion of issues related to social justice, ethics, and globalization. While engineering programs are required to include ethics content for accreditation, most seem to rely primarily on general education electives, providing only a high-level overview and including the bare minimum in the program core. This can lead to an inconsistent student experience and minimal exposure to topics which are critically important for achieving worldwide equity and operating responsibly in the engineering workplace. Given the role that engineers play in economic development, this is unacceptable. It is therefore the responsibility of engineering educators to find a better way to shape the future of the engineering profession. This paper outlines the early efforts at integrating the topics of ethics, social justice, and social responsibility more directly into the engineering curriculum. This is approached from the perspectives of pedagogy, curriculum development, and service learning opportunities. It is within this context that the authors hope to influence students' awareness of and connection to social and environmental issues as well as the ethical frameworks they develop and carry with them into their professional careers. This paper centers around the creation and delivery of a new introductory engineering course combining liberal education topics and introductory engineering topics. This course also includes a substantial design project which incorporates a cultural engagement component through collaboration with international partners. The first offering of this new course revealed that, while some reservations persist, students found value in exploring what it means to be an engineer in a broader global context.


2012 ◽  
Vol 76 (8) ◽  
pp. 2911-2918 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Deissmann ◽  
S. Neumeier ◽  
G. Modolo ◽  
D. Bosbach

AbstractSeparated stocks of UK civil plutonium are currently held as a zero value asset in storage, as there is no final decision about whether they should be treated as a resource for future use as nuclear fuel or as waste. Irrespective of future UK government strategies regarding plutonium, at least a portion of the UK civil plutonium inventory will be designated for geological disposal. In this context, we performed a high-level review of the performance of potential wasteforms for the disposal of separated civil plutonium. The key issues considered were the durability and chemical reactivity of the wasteforms in aqueous environments and the long-term radionuclide release under conditions relevant to geological disposal. The major findings of the review, relevant not only to the situation in the UK but to plutonium disposal in general, are summarized in this paper. The review showed that, in the event of a decision being taken to declare plutonium as a waste for disposal, more systematic studies would be required to constrain the wasteform performance under repository conditions in order to derive realistic source terms for a safety case.


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